Digg Is Great

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Craig Fortune   (Nov 15, 2005 at 18:59 GMT)

Those are some of the most disgusting and worthless replies that I've seen on a comments section on a website for quite a while, I think thats saying something. Please don't let this get you down Jeff, rise above it.

As a side note I'd like to hear more of what you have to say in regards to the xbox360 beyond the limited scope of a comment on /.

Phil Carlisle   (Nov 15, 2005 at 19:04 GMT)

I think its pretty much inevitable isnt it? As things become more "mainstream" they also become more accessed by the masses. This kind of automatically means things will inevitably get dumber.

I just think its the nature of people as things become popular. Remember the whole stigma of being an AOL'er when we were back in the days of the BBS's??

thanks for the alternative site though :)

Tom Bampton   (Nov 15, 2005 at 19:08 GMT)

Amazing. Dunno what else to say. Perhaps someone with a (much) higher IQ will be along to add better comments later, but given that its slashdot, I wont hold my breath ;-)

T.

Clint S. Brewer   (Nov 15, 2005 at 19:12 GMT)

unfortunately that seems to be the way of the majority of the internet, it's like road rage, but taken to the extreme where you can be a complete "Anonymous Coward". It's not personal at you, has more to do with them. I know you know this, and remember it was only 2 people out of thousands who read that site.

Jeff Tunnell   (Nov 15, 2005 at 19:14 GMT)

Doesn't get me down at all. I have discovered that if I know something about the post, just how little real information is included in the replies, i.e. just how clueless the community is. Projecting that to things that I know less about tells me that I should not be wasting my time on the site.

The new web with all of the blogs and other forms of news are quickly eclipsing the usefulness of /.

Oh well.

-Jeff

David Montgomery-Blake   (Nov 15, 2005 at 19:21 GMT)

Since I moderate at GameFAQs, it seemed like a logical and intelligent discussion.

But I don't know if I would classify them as zealots or idiots. There's a distinct difference between they two, but I'll be damned if I can find it right now.

The LA360 will be a great step for indies. I'm interested to see if large developers flood the Live console market with casual games (often thought of for more "hardcore" gamers than the PC market) or if they concentrate their dollars on the "big titles" and leave the market open for indies.

James Lupiani   (Nov 15, 2005 at 19:28 GMT)

I don't post on Slashdot very often, but when I do, I'm amazed at the replies. It quickly jumps from legitimate discussion to bickering about semantics. Before, the moderators would go through them fairly quick and eliminate the irrelevant replies, but over the past few years, I think moderation has slanted more towards entertainment value than quality of the content.

On the other hand, throw in a few words about how Torque runs on Linux and MacOS X and you'd probably get praise from everyone but the anti-PR crowd.

Pat Wilson   (Nov 15, 2005 at 19:34 GMT)

This plays right into my theory that 95% of everything on the planet is crap...including the people who occupy it.

Darren Stuart   (Nov 15, 2005 at 19:44 GMT)

I use Digg everyday and its much better. However the MS hating ppls still use it but at least you can report the crap.

Chris   (Nov 15, 2005 at 20:09 GMT)

Quote:

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This plays right into my theory that 95% of everything on the planet is crap...including the people who occupy it.

---

Best one liner of the year.

Logan Foster   (Nov 15, 2005 at 20:14 GMT)

Jeff I agree with you there. /. has turned from being an evangelist Linux and Techie news site, to IMHO a site of fear mongering and angst. The intelligence is gone from the posts and now its just an orgy of hatred and miss truths that ebb and wax to the drums that are slowly being beaten louder and louder to the agendas of a select few.

What made me really hate the site was when we had released Dark Horizons Lore 2.0 for Linux and Linspire and they (along with most other Linux games sites) refused to post anything about it even though our fans and players were spamming /. with news posts about the release. Hell even GarageGames tried to send news posts to them and other Linux sites about Lore and got no where. We were all so very confused as to why /. (and other Linux games sites), sites which spends as much time bitching about how there are no Linux games as it does bitching about Microsoft, would refuse to make a post about how a new Linux game was on the market.

This is when I finally came to the realization that /. simply doesn't care. If you are not some big AAA game, an Anti-MS new story or a Fortune 500 company that uses linux in some story that they can spin and fire a buch of incorrect facts about how Linux saved the day they simply don't care. The site is happy to bite the hand that feeds them and spurn its own community and those that truely want to make an effort supporting the Linux OS, and what is the end result of all of it?

If you ask me the end result is that you have one less person or one less company that wants to deal /. and their community, and get one more person or company that looks at Linux as less of a solution and market and more as a toy or resource with specific needs that can be used in only certain circumstances. They do not understand that what they are doing is driving away the very support from the little guys that made Linux and their community such an attractive development when it first came onto the market. They do not understand that their actions are why companies do not think of Linux as a viable release platform for games and only look at it as a much deserved after thought. After my experiances with /. (and Linux sites like it) along with the dismal support of the Linux community in general for indie games, I have no personal desire to expend valuable resources as an indie to make games for the OS unless I can really profit off of it. Sure I might just be 1 indie developer, I might not make the next Doom 3 or Half Life 2, but I am one less voice who says "support Linux, its great", and in the end, isnt that what matters?

Dan "Nerseus" Jones   (Nov 15, 2005 at 20:23 GMT)

Maybe I missed it, but I only saw 6 replies to Jeff's post. If you take away the Anonymous posts, which you should do anyway, the remaining posts seemed just fine. I actually liked Lord Dweomer's post as it did seem to have some thought behind it and was sprinkled with similar thoughts to mine. Being able to make purchases easily without going to the store - great idea! I fear that having micropayments to buy add-ons will turn into a "nickel and diming" of games.

I think GarageGames has proven that add-ons work well: you buy only what you want and/or need. I worry that within a few years the feature will be abused. I could easily see larger game companies changing the intent of the add-ons into something else. What gamers currently get "for free", will have to be purchased.

Now, if GarageGames were left in charge, I'd have no worries. I fear the "good" intentions of the larger companies.

I like the rest of Jeff's post, especially how he DIDN'T talk about the games themselves. I don't own any console systems but I will soon enough (kids are getting older). To me, I'd like to have the extra features mentioned. I like hearing that it's easy, too!

Weekly Plan Highlights   (Nov 15, 2005 at 20:23 GMT)

@Jeff

All I have to say is that I hope that if there are aliens, that they don't browse the web to understand how humans think or our planet is toast.

Anton Bursch   (Nov 15, 2005 at 20:25 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

oops, I was still logged in as the Weekly Plan Hightlights.

Greg Szemiot   (Nov 15, 2005 at 20:34 GMT)

As much as I am a Nintendo fanboy, even I have to admit the idea of getting a game on the 360 is intriguing and something I'd like to try and do. I wish to get a game on Revolution more, but jesus some people are so close minded. I'm a Nintendo fan, but I like my unique games and fun games on any platform.

Neil Marshall   (Nov 15, 2005 at 20:36 GMT)

Some of the comments weren't bad. Like asking if you needed to store the files differently on your ipod to connect it and being disgusted with having to continusiously pay to play a game instead of just paying the $60-100 fee once (Which is why I don't play MMO games).

All of the other comments were rated 0 except for the Balmer joke which wasn't really funny. The crap to useful comments is definitly high though.

Michael Cozzolino   (Nov 15, 2005 at 20:52 GMT)

Quote:

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This plays right into my theory that 95% of everything on the planet is crap...including the people who occupy it.

---

Man how true.

I don't bother post anything on the Firingsquad site either. Sometimes I read an announcement that I know will cause heat just to read the dumbass comments.

Vashner   (Nov 15, 2005 at 20:55 GMT)

I do what Will Smith does. Turn the negative energy into fuel. Feed off of the idiots instead of letting them get you down.
The whole time I was watching the movie DOOM I kept thinking about Carmack saying "directX will never succeed". Now I have never seen him eat a Crow but he should. Look at Sony, they are no angels. They have fought every open standard. From CD-ROM, compact flash to DVD and more.

Barry "Yossarian" Whitley   (Nov 15, 2005 at 20:56 GMT)

What the heck are you doing reading slashdot right now? Why aren't you working!!!!

Wait, what the heck am I doing here reading about Jeff reading. Maybe *I* should be working....

bleh.

/Fark is funnier anyway
// Score -1 (Troll)
/// Duke Sucks.
Edited on Nov 15, 2005 20:56 GMT

Pascal   (Nov 15, 2005 at 20:56 GMT)

I went through it the first time and didn't see what the issue was,
then I realized I have it set to ignore comments below 2 (and put a -3 modifier on Anonymous Cowards).
I vagualy remember setting that a couple months ago after getting angry at some jerk's post.

My experience with /. has been great for the past months and I think I didn't even realize I just wasn't
seeing all the crap comments.

If you ever have any desire to go back, you could give that a shot. A -1 or -2 modifier on 'Funny' probably brings
most of dumb repeated jokes back down too.

Kirby Webber   (Nov 15, 2005 at 21:00 GMT)

I find the fact that the post is rated as "5 - Informative" amusing given some of the 'rantier' posts.

In the end, I find it best to keep to a steady diet of posting on carefully selected forums like the one here at GG.

It's just to easy for people to behave like complete asses and prevent any meaningful debate or conversation with there antics when they're protected by the anonymity of the internet.

The short version: "Opinions are like @$$holes. Everybody has one and they all stink." Heh.

Vashner   (Nov 15, 2005 at 21:27 GMT)

I got banned from the Federal Judiciary's internal NNTP forum over an argument. This guy wanted to turn off all the cisco routers all 600+ of our locations. But I had spent a lot of time working with cisco on upgrading and testing the Y2k issue. They had judges that thought clocks would like jump off wrap cords around people. Well you know me, I said "Y2k is gonna be nothing your making a big deal out of it, focus on the science not your emotions". Well I got called into the big guys office and banned for life from posting there.
The guy I insulted was Chief of a whole circuit hehehhe. BTW It took them 2 months to get all the routers back up. They never tested a full up down just one by ones. Austin Fed Courthouse took 6 weeks as an example without connectivity. One of the learning experiances as to how bad a post or email can turn.
Edited on Nov 15, 2005 21:28 GMT

David .NfoCipher. Bunt   (Nov 15, 2005 at 21:34 GMT)

Maybe I'm just not seeing the problem here.. You went to a historically Pro-Linux site and posted positive things about a microsoft product. Yet you're shocked you got flamed.

Let's go over a few things, first I'm one of those pro-linux anti microsoft sorts. I make my money using and coding for Linux. I post on slashdot maybe once a year, but I don't expect any useful replies. Slashdot doesn't represent me nor a cross section of real Linux users. A site more like Linux Journal is a more accurate representation of the type Linux guy I am.

Back to slashdot - it's a personal blog site that got really big. People pay money to log in and flame people who promote microsoft. That's pretty much their business model. It's much like this site, sure I could come here and post about this other cool uber game engine and does xyz and you'll tolerate the post but I'd eventually get flamed. But what else could I expect? Hordes of garagegames folk to magically convert over to this new uber engine just because I said a few good things about it?

What you can take from slashdot is the method of ranking posts by moderation. I think that would really improve my garagegames.com post reading experience as I find myself becoming more and more fustrated wading thru the mountains of "how do u compil?!?!" posts just to get to something useful.

Just a thought..

Sam Bacsa   (Nov 15, 2005 at 22:25 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

@David: I think the Linux elitism aspect is what keeps a lot of people away from it. That, and you guys can't take any criticism. If you, personally, demonstrated respect towards the "other side" as I do to the Linux crowd (I've got quite a bit of experience with Linux and I run BSD servers), then I wouldn't be posting this and would be agreeing with you.

I don't mean to cause controversey, but the same "open mindedness" you preach in your profile is severely lacking in your comments.

I'd just like to give this example of why I believe that:



That taken from this blog post by someone who seeks to better the Torque community through his contributions.

This site is very different from Slashdot. The people here come from many different backgrounds but are all here for one purpose: the promotion of games. Any kind. Indie or not. Linux or Windows or Mac. Whatever.

We don't flame each other because of our different views on an operating system.

Jeff, I think you made the right decision. I don't read Slashdot anymore because it's full of morons. At least the Microsoft crowd is a bit more accepting of open source. I wish it went both ways.


____
Footnote - I'm by no means a "Microsoft zealot". They make good products, and I use them; but I also use open source products if they do the job, and most of the time they do.

Mark Berry   (Nov 15, 2005 at 22:35 GMT)

Heh, first time on /. in a few years I think. It hasnt changed a bit.

One issue I have not heard much about is the possible intrusion of advertising into games, especially on the XBox. I may be waay off base here, but one of the early 'features' promoted to devs was the ability to stream ads into games.

Do I need an adblocker installed on my XBox or what?

Also, indies will take advantage of the arcade feature to get their games on XBox. Thats fantastic. I just cant see the big studios ignoring a potential revenue stream, so I think the markets going to get crowded very quickly if it starts paying out.

J. Erick Christgau   (Nov 15, 2005 at 22:58 GMT)

It was about a year and a half ago, maybe a bit more, when /. really died. It was around then that you stopped needing to check it three times a day to avoid stories from falling off the bottom. Now it can go two days without losing a story. I've also avoided the comments for at least 2-3 years and will continue to do so. It's just pointless bickering.

Gary Preston   (Nov 15, 2005 at 23:04 GMT)

/. used to be a great read until it became infested by such an immature crowd that anything that even hints at been Microsoft related turns into a thread where the most intelligent response is usually "M$ r t3h g3y, u SU><ORS!!!!1111!!one"

Plenty of sites on the net that are worth reading, sadly /. just isn't one of them anymore.
Edited on Nov 15, 2005 23:05 GMT

Anton Bursch   (Nov 15, 2005 at 23:09 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

After reading the posts on /. all I can say is that I repent that I ever had respect for geeks. The one thing I can't help thinking while reading the posts is 'who the f*** are these people and what the f*** are they talking about?'. It was literally like listening to a group of people arguing over whether or not Tom Cruise is gay or some other gossip topic. Nothing anyone said was more than hearsay?! Wow... I read movie websites and at least the dickheads there know how to write a whole sentence and KNOW the difference between rumors and facts. These guys... I swear... are some of them just paid by companies to talk shit? If they are, can I have that job. I can do better than these guys. In the movie website world we have a name for dicks who fake post to either promote or bash something... they are called plants. I felt like I was in a f****** greenhouse in there! Wow.

David .NfoCipher. Bunt   (Nov 15, 2005 at 23:19 GMT)

>I don't mean to cause controversey, but the same "open mindedness" you preach in your profile is severely lacking in your comments.

There's no controversey here. I'm the Linux guy who is so sick and tired of asking "So you gonna make a Linux version?" that I just don't have the time nor patience for products that don't. If I *really* need something for win32, I'll attempt to run it under wine. If it doesn't run under wine, screw it, I move on. If you flat out refuse a Linux version, screw it, I move on - but I'm going to complain like a consumer would.

You can label me as elitist if you wish, as the term pretty much fits. I have zero respect or tolerance for anything microsoft. I do have some respect for osx (os9 and below are pure crap) and if granny needed a computer, I'd buy her a mac.

My "open mindedness" is limited to a few rules:
It's not my job to make you use or like Linux.
It's not my job to teach you how to use Linux once you do give it a try.
Installing Linux on the crappiest box you can afford to give it a "test drive" won't give you a positive Linux experience.
I have zero tolerance for windows vs linux debates - stick with the OS you like and leave the rest of us alone.

>The people here come from many different backgrounds but are all here for one purpose: the promotion of games. Any kind. Indie or not. Linux or Windows or Mac. Whatever.

People come here to buy engines and tools to make games and discuss those products. Any other purpose is a byproduct of that and is paid for by the sell of those products. I'm here specifically because Torque works under Linux. As soon as that stops being the case, I'll move on.

Brian Hunter   (Nov 15, 2005 at 23:48 GMT)

Exposing yourself to /. is like slamming your head into a stack of bricks.
Kind words of advice is definately dont go to a place with a bunch of backpeddling egos and flamers such as that. A majority of /. posters showing there little/no intelligence through their little/no tolerance for anything they dont like is attrocious.

Dave Myers   (Nov 15, 2005 at 23:48 GMT)

In the end, even here on GG we have our own group of people who think nothing of talking shit while on a forum, but would likely never dare act the same way in person. The anonymity of "them thar intrawebs" simply makes it easier to be a dick with no repurcussions. You just need to choose sites to visit where the assholes-per-capita is to your liking. Here it's pretty low, /. it's pretty high.

Now that I think about it, someone should create a site that lists the assholes-per-capita of forums. Save us all some heartache when we find a new site we *think* we might like to peruse on a regular basis...

Bryan Edds   (Nov 15, 2005 at 23:52 GMT)

David, would you be willing to help people like me port their games to linux free of charge?

Dave Calabrese   (Nov 16, 2005 at 00:06 GMT)

Jeff,

I have personally never actually read the forums on /., instead only taking the time to read the headlines. After seeing the responses you were given - not a single of which appeared to be in good taste or even willing to have a friendly debate over outright flaming - I think I shall refrain from reading these forums. It's sad to see the kinds of things people will shout out when they are not forced to see you in person.

You have my condolences.

On another note, I agree with you whole-heartedly about the XBox 360. Pre-IGC I had questioned if I would ever get one as the only game I had any interest in within its lineup was Kameo, and the fact that I only ever truly played 1 game on my original X-Box. After IGC, however, my opinion has done a '360' of its own, and I have every intention of buying an XBox360, Kameo, and enjoying the excellent download content.

Keep it up, Jeff. You've been at this longer than most of us... you know a good thing when you see it. =)

-Dave C.

David .NfoCipher. Bunt   (Nov 16, 2005 at 00:15 GMT)

Bryan, maybe could work out some sort of barter system, I could use some help pushing the goodness of twitch action networking into T2D.

Justin Kovac   (Nov 16, 2005 at 00:27 GMT)

David Bunt,

Do you really want to consider yourself an 'elitest' when you're represented by people with this kind of mindset?
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=168366&cid=14036506
I really wouldn't want to fall in that category. There's a fine line between knocking Microsoft and knocking the developers that are supported by Microsoft. I'm quite sure Garage Games would be more than eager to do work for a Linux based gaming system if one were to ever release. On the unfortunate note; there isn't one.

Other than that it's merely a matter of not posting at all on big message boards like that. No matter what you're going to find idiots with bad tempers towards everything, which is really depressing because Jeff had some good points towards Microsoft's coming support to smaller game companies.

David .NfoCipher. Bunt   (Nov 16, 2005 at 01:25 GMT)

>Do you really want to consider yourself an 'elitest' when you're represented by people with this kind of mindset?

I hardly call some anonymous poster on some website my representation. If you want a real cross-section of "normal" Linux folk, subscribe to a LUG mailing list or three.

Ben Garney   (Nov 16, 2005 at 05:00 GMT)

David,

I wish there were more people like you that really stood up for, and purchased things on, Linux. :)

Sikosis   (Nov 16, 2005 at 05:09 GMT)

Too many Linux Loving Losers on Slashdot ... has been for quite awhile ... believe me there are MUCH better news sources. Even ones with sites that don't look like they were made by a geocities fanboy :P

Timothy Aste   (Nov 16, 2005 at 05:23 GMT)

There are a lot uninformed opinions in that thread. I've actually found myself reading less and less of Slashdot over the last 2 years..better news now in other places in my honest opinion, especially if you use RSS to collect a bunch from various places. :)

Ivan Lazarte   (Nov 16, 2005 at 06:42 GMT)

digg is an incredible service. I'm firmly against any sort of buzzword-affiliated crap, but digg delivers. i can't wait to see what next set of features they roll out. i can't stand anti-m$ people either, it's amazing how angry they are just the mention that microsoft from time to time delivers quality products that push envelopes.

i'm a java guy too, i have no dot net interest whatsoever for my day to day work, but you have to recognize m$'s importance. anyway, slashdot is just an overhyped geek fest. their discussion groups haven't ever been interesting for me.

with this "web 2.0" going around its great to see that all these new ideas are actually adding value. flickr is just a wonderful site, i'm amazed by how much i want to just browse it.

Ivan Lazarte   (Nov 16, 2005 at 06:51 GMT)

on second thought jeff, that wasn't so bad, you need to thicken that skin a little ;)
only one guy was outright rude, the other with the ballmer reference was just poking fun, and then after that you had a gg fan dress the thread with some praise. either way though, digg still rules.

were they further down? maybe tribalwar has completely densensitized me to internet attacks.
Edited on Nov 16, 2005 06:52 GMT

Joe Melton   (Nov 16, 2005 at 07:30 GMT)

Slashdot is pure garbage. Sure there are some interesting posts at the top level, but once you get beneath that it's one big clusterf***...and I'm just talking about the layout. I've grown accustomed to uninformed idiots on the Internet, and at times I am part of that crowd. However, coupling ignorance with a crappy layout makes it suck twice as much.

Digg is very nice, IMO, especially because you can read the articles without ever knowing there is commentary going on behind the scenes. I use Digg for information, and it provides a wealth of it.

Vernon Finch   (Nov 16, 2005 at 07:58 GMT)

I didn't see to much bad stuff there. Did it get moderated? I don't think it was the right place to try and get any intelligent discussion going though.

I loathe slashdot anyway. I have found digg to be quite useful for headline skimming.

I hope this doesn't post twice, but my post didn't seem to submit the first time

Dreamer   (Nov 16, 2005 at 09:00 GMT)

Dude I coudln't even find your post, and I couldn't see any Anti-MS fud in there at all.
That really shocked me.

Tom Eastman (Eastbeast314)   (Nov 16, 2005 at 15:29 GMT)

Slashdot is entertainment, not news. All news is late and/or biased (even compared to the Google newsbot) and the comments are all about being as cynical, sarcastic, or anti-MS as possible. Dissapointing.

Charles B   (Nov 17, 2005 at 00:24 GMT)

Use your anger and hatred to write some tutorials of TGE... funnel the energy.

Peter Kojesta   (Nov 17, 2005 at 02:17 GMT)

I bookmarked Digg.com Jeff. Thanks for the link, should be a cool read once in a while. Also, congrats on the release of TGE 1.4 and the xbox 360 version of marble blast. I've seens lots of cool things going on around here.

Matt Vitelli   (Nov 17, 2005 at 02:25 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

Quote:

---

Pretty much summed up, GarageGames is a lame developer, I'm a Ballmer fanboi, etc.

---

I get the impression that they only think high budget commercial games are good? Hmm...what's really funny here is that out of all the Xbox 360 games I've played such as King Kong, Kameo, Call of Duty2, etc. Marble Blast Ultra is by far the best of them. And that really says something if indies can do that.

Ryan J. Parker   (Nov 17, 2005 at 14:54 GMT)

They were being nice to you, Jeff!

You have to consider the audience that /. targets. No one over there wants to hear about paying for content they feel should be free.

LOL... don't be so surprised with those guys. ;)

Brett Fattori   (Nov 18, 2005 at 01:00 GMT)

I've kinda given up on reading /. For the longest time they were my one source, but now Jeff's nailed it with their stupid, sniveling, idiotic rants. The majority of the crowd is probably 13 (or younger) and hasn't seen the light of day -- ever.

- Brett

Matt Vitelli   (Nov 18, 2005 at 03:26 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

Aww..dont be mean to 13 year olds. We're not all bad, we just usually dont know what we're talking about. I must say though, I was really unimpressed with that site.

Bryan Edds   (Nov 18, 2005 at 06:26 GMT)

David Bunt -

Twitch action rules! It will be a while before Puzzle Gaiden is done, so I won't be able to help with anything for a while. :(

Lot's of work yet :)

Jeffrey Bakker   (Nov 18, 2005 at 10:05 GMT)

Truly no offense Jeff, but honestly when I was reading your post, it seemed so positive that it almost made me feel like I was reading a typical sales pitch. Maybe this is what set some of them off. But of course, that still does not justify for them to slam you verbally for it. People are retards, especially on the internet.

I myself am very anti Microsoft, but times are changing and as a programmer, I recently decided that I must adapt to their new technologies, as this is the way we all move forward in the industry. Some fellow Linux zealots may see me as a sellout, but what I have given to the Linux community cannot be taken back, therefore I am forever a Linux contributor.

Like others in this thread, I have also noticed that most large mainstream community sites have the rudest members. I remember looking at other peoples' UT2004 homemade content on the Atari forums, and many of the senior members would make disgustingly rude comments to the newbie level designers, eg: "Why do you have to post every piece of crap that you make on here?", rather than give constructive feedback. Sometimes other senior members would stick up for the newbies, only to get flamed at also.

Danny Ngan   (Nov 18, 2005 at 18:58 GMT)

It's easy to be an a$$ online when the other person can't reach over and smack you upside the head. :)

Charlie Malbaurn   (Nov 19, 2005 at 09:51 GMT)

Here is a funny blog post about the 360 and the wonderful people over at slashdot

neopoleon.com/blog/posts/16512.aspx

Britton LaRoche   (Nov 19, 2005 at 21:34 GMT)

Jeff,

You bet. Thats an opinion I share as well. There seems to be a great chasm in the tech industry, not just on slashdot. Its everywhere. A sort of stagnation or slipping of the places that used to be special. Slashdot and many other good sites seem to have lost their luster. There are many sharp individuals out there, and I believe their absence is a signal that great new things are on the way. It seems that the whole industry is in change, and I think for the better.

What you see now is a dying off of the old ways, and slashdot is one of the many sites going down hill. The best clue that change is coming is a high tide of idiots filling in the gaps. The gaps, the missing intellect, is a sign that the bright people have moved on to something better. I think this is true for the technology industry as a whole.

I belive that a new era is just around the corner. In my opinion its all a matter of bandwidth. Once the vast majority of consumers can get what they need with a click of a button the whole world (I'm spealing tech world) will change. The smart ones are starting their own companies and preparing for it. They know that the barrier between them and the customer is about to be removed. That holds true for news sites as well. With the advent of google, the sharp people will draw a pull to their own new sites. It wont just be news, it'll be something new too.

The founders of slashdot and other news sites have moved on. Case in point:


lxer.com/module/newswire/view/1/
-----------------------------------------


What is this?

This is LXer (pronounced Elexer), a Linux news site.

Another news site?

Yes, it sure is. It's another news site, just like a few others that are already out there.

Why the duplication of effort? What makes LXer any different from everyone else?

This is the big sticky point with me. The way I see it, there are only a few REALLY top-notch Linux news websites. They are:

* LWN.net
* NewsForge

The editors of LWN.net produce some outstanding content. Their weekly edition is top-notch and, should you choose to subscribe, is worth every penny you give them. Kudos - I love LWN.net. They are, however, not as focused on "up to the minute" news, in lieu of a slower release cycle with a more refined product.

NewsForge and Linux Today (formerly an excellent newswire, but today suffering from huge problems) both suffer from the same problem: over commercialization. Truly, a news site need not use flashy advertisements and affiliate programs with dating services.

What is needed now is a Linux news site with the following qualifications:

1. Driven by an editor who knows and cares deeply about this community.

2. Has a minimum of advertisements, and the few that it has should be relevant to Linuxers. Related to this is that the site should have a very clean and simple layout without any fancy graphics or formatting.

3. Is frequently updated with useful and interesting stories, announcements, reviews, security alerts and editorials.

4. Has a plethora of useful features to make access to the news easy in a variety of ways.

5. Has easy community participation - discussion forums and moderated story submission.

6. Has an open database - our news (including external links) that we are accumulating is available in XML format and readily accessible to anyone who wants it.

After several years, I have decided that I am up to the challenge, and the above is my mission statement. My competition is NewsForge and Linux Today. LWN.net is a very different site with very different goals, and I think we will always complement each-other nicely.

So who are you?

I am Dave Whitinger. I worked for Red Hat in 1997, and in 1998 I co-founded Linux Today with Dwight Johnson. After selling Linux Today to internet.com, I worked with Atipa in their web services department until everyone was laid off. For much of 2002, I worked for the good folks at LWN.net, helping them with business development issues after their unacquisition from TUCOWS.

I patiently waited for this day for a long time. January, 2004 marks an important milestone in my history with Linux news, and this is the month that I have been planning my re-entry into this field.

I hope you enjoy the website, and find it useful and maybe a little fun. If I may be of any service to you at all, please don't hesitate to call on me.

---------------------------

Most of last year I was pondering this very thing. Where did all the smart people go? They are doing what Garage Games is doing, building something they can own. Trouble is something good doesnt happen overnight. It takes time. So in the mean time here come the dummies filling in the vacuum.

Britton

Britton LaRoche   (Nov 19, 2005 at 21:51 GMT)

Jeff,

Yeah you called it, digg is awesome. Ivan and Joe's post show they agree: Digg is one of the new wavers. This is where the smart people went. And its all indie start up stuff. Here is a nice article on how it all began.

www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_47/b3960426.htm

I love indie success stores.

Stephen Zepp   (Nov 19, 2005 at 22:11 GMT)

[/mini-soapbox]
It's the general trend mentioned here about quality sites losing their quality that reinforces to me not only the quality of this community, but the general moderator (and yes, I'm the primary moderator, so this is self-serving) tactics used to maintain said quality.

It's a major part of the vision of GarageGames that we want to be THE web community for Independent Game Developers, and community observations about the downfall in quality/major decreases in signal-to-noise of other sites that in the past have been the destination of choice for their market do quite a lot to reinforce the minimalistic, but very focused community management we instill here with our community.

And finally, I wanted to give a personal note of thanks to each and every one of you that have helped to achieve the professionalism of our forums--quite honestly, it's done quite a lot to help GarageGames achieve, and continue to achieve success.

Keep it up, we rock!
[/mini-soapbox]

Britton LaRoche   (Nov 19, 2005 at 23:59 GMT)

Stephen,

Yessir, I didn't have to mention it, GG is one of these new indie sites with a new concept and business model. It takes time to build it. As soon as you get something good, but before you reall know what its worth, thats when you have to be cautious. Watch out for the VC money and the strings that come with it. They will kill the fun and steal your soul.

The GG guys learned their lesson and started this indie games movement. The devil will be back pretty soon with some fantastic deals, trying to leverage the great work you guys put in place.

Greg Cushing   (Nov 20, 2005 at 06:43 GMT)

I hate to say it but i read that article and the posts and you had two anon posts pretty much from trolls.

I mean thats kinda like me saying Torque sucks for this this this and then going to post on another website how you guys are rude. There is just ppl on every site that are retarded. No matter where you do anything on the net someone will crisitize it even if it isnt legitimate critisim. This happens to all major websites. Or heavily biased sites. Your post was a good post and it was modded as such and their ignorant responses wered 0 (last i checked) how did the system now work?

Jeffrey Bakker   (Nov 20, 2005 at 10:39 GMT)

@ Stephen

That's what I like about GG: a Torque newbie such as myself, or even a non-licensee, is able to communicate directly with the GG employees on the forum. There's no talking to the big guys through a proxy which conssists of hidden email addresses and a screening process, unlike other companies where you'll rarely see an employee post on the public forum.

Phil Carlisle   (Nov 20, 2005 at 19:44 GMT)

You know what.. I just read a thread on MMORPG pricing issues (interested in how I could charge for Air Ace), so you know what we see?

At the end I read one post and totally and utterly agreed with you jeff. Basically the guy was whining that MMORPG's were too expensive, that these guys were "just there to make money" and that MMORPG's should be hosted for free.

God give me strength. These people seem kind of retarded when it comes to reality.

Honestly though, this is kind of what was an inevitability with the internet. I'm not 100% sure I'm too happy with using RSS for everything, but its at least a subscription thing, you can choose to be in on it or not.

I personally prefer to hear and see things too. So I hope someday video RSS will come along.

Jesse Hall   (Nov 21, 2005 at 05:34 GMT)

Tribes Rules!

Rick Beacham   (Nov 22, 2005 at 18:24 GMT)

I'm not too sure I like the way Console gaming systems are going.. Jeff Tunnel.. You see its basically an atari with better graphics. There has not been any orginal games on XBOX 360 that i've seen just remakes. I like the idea of LIVE 360, but the kid is right it could promote pricing on free games. But thats what its for right? I think i'm going to wait until Nintendo comes out with their system, since there going to do something completely different and inovative. Word is there focusing on a new game play style.. But the GameCube was sort of a let down except for game Pikimin and MonkeyBall. I think thats important not just all these new fancy graphics. Its like i'm playing the same game over and over again. Peace out. Customer of GarageGames and frequent writer for Slashdot.org...
PS Love the GarageGame community

Jonathan Rose   (Nov 23, 2005 at 18:07 GMT)

Aren't remakes and sequels all that make up just about any new console? Granted Nintendo usually tries to make the odd Pikmin or something... they tend to be the oddman out lately anyway.

EDIT:

All I'm saying is... give it some time. I'm sure there will be some unique games coming to 360 and PS3 after a while. Of course, Revolution will almost certainly lead in terms of raw uniqueness... but for everyone else, you can't expect completely unique crap on launch.
Edited on Nov 23, 2005 18:12 GMT

Rick Beacham   (Nov 25, 2005 at 06:07 GMT)

Yeah, your right... But thats becuase there aim is towards the younger crowds. Think about there games. There just simple and sweet. Take Monkey Ball. Just simple sweet, and Addictive. I believe it was number one in Japan for a while. Monkey Ball 2 is even better.

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